Bump-and-run pass lifts Taylor Racing in Rolex 24 at Daytona

Don Coble

Monday

Jan 30, 2017 at 7:01 AM

DAYTONA BEACH | A pair of Cadillac DPi-V.R prototypes took turns trading high-speed punches in the first 23 hours and 53 minutes in one of the most compelling Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in the race’s 55-year history.

Ricky Taylor then used his front bumper for the deciding knockout – a bump-and-run pass that’s more common at a NASCAR short track that sent the No. 5 sports car from Action Express into a spin and the No. 10 for Wayne Taylor Racing to Victory Lane.

In the process, Taylor took his younger brother, Jordan, to Victory Lane as a co-driver and his father, Wayne, as the winning car owner.

Also, legendary endurance racer Max Angelelli started his retirement as a winner at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course, and NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon joined A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and Jamie McMurray as the fourth driver to win a Daytona 500 and 24 Hours of Daytona.

The top-two cars combined to lead 36 times. The last change, however, won’t soon be forgotten.

Flipe Albuquerque had the lead for Action Express when he turned off the superspeedway and onto the infield road course. When Albuquerque slowed to make the turn, Taylor squeezed his car to the inside and got up to Albuquerque’s left-rear wheel. Albuquerque tried to cut the pass off by pinching the corner. The impact sent his car sliding off course.

It was a move Ricky Taylor learned while driving with Angelelli, who as "Max the Ax," was considered one of the most aggressive drivers in sports car racing.

"I embraced my inner Max the Ax," Ricky Taylor said. "He never gives up. He’ll stick his nose in anywhere. He sees a gap, he’s going to go for it. I didn’t know if I was going to get another chance. If I learned one thing from Max, it was to never give up. He’s done that thousands of times."

Taylor, who managed to pull beside Albuquerque twice in the final 12 minutes, saw another opportunity as the cars raced through the trioval before turning into the infield.

"He went for it, and I wasn’t going to budge," Ricky Taylor said. "I don’t 100 percent understand. I mean, closing the door and getting hit. I think that explains it. But I’ve obviously been working on it for a while and looking at where we were strong and where we weren’t strong, and it’s the 24 hours. I mean, everybody is going to take a risk. This is the end of the Rolex 24 at Daytona."

IMSA officials reviewed the collision and decided the pass didn’t violate any rules. The decision came with only two minutes remaining in the twice-around-the-clock marathon. Wayne Taylor dropped his head into his hands in the pits and cried uncontrollably following the no-call from IMSA.

"Well, it was a good fight, until I got hit, to be honest," Albuquerque said. "I had some GTs ahead of me so I could not brake so late, and I closed the door, but then I got spun. There is not much to say, and, yeah, the officials took the decision. In my racing, it’s not like this to overtake. I know last minute, last laps of such a big race, we do whatever we can. But come on. To hit me behind the rear wheel? I was waiting for at least a five-second penalty."

Albuquerque was 50 behind at the finish line.

The winning team survived 13 hours of rain during the night, numerous of on-course spins and constant pressure from Action Express that lasted the entire race. The Taylor car led for a total of 376 laps, and Action Express was out front for 163. Together they combined to lead 81.8-percent of the race.

Gordon was behind the wheel for just 2 hours, 24 minutes. But the opportunity to add a trophy for the country’s biggest sports car race was so enticing, he didn’t take any salary for his work.

"It was like a dream come true for me because I’ve always dreamed about driving a car, a beautiful, amazing car that could handle like this, that had the technology like this and could compete in a race like this," Gordon said.

The rain affected the number of laps completed, but the Taylor car still completed 659 laps – 2,332.86 miles – or roughly the distance between the speedway and Salt Lake City, Utah.